Faycal Cheffou

Faycal Cheffou was a freelance journalist from Belgium who joined the Islamic State and was one of the perpetrators of the 2016 Brussels bombings.

Biography
Faycal Cheffou was born in Belgium to a family of Muslims. His older brother Karim was shot dead by police in 2002 and an AK-47 and grenades found in his Schaerbeek home, and Faycal became a radical Islamist like his brother. Cheffou himself was arrested in the early 2000s for possession of stolen goods, and he worked as a "freelance journalist", with his most significant report being his coverage of the Steenokkerzeel migrant detention center. He posted a July 2014 video called "The Oppressed" where he expressed his anger about alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians, the Quran, police brutality, and reporting on Hasna Aitboulahcen, and he was watched by Belgian police for months for trying to radicalize Muslims at the Maximilien Park makeshift refugee camp. However, Belgian authorities neglected national security and allowed for Cheffou and the brothers Ibrahim al-Bakraoui and Khalid al-Bakraoui to enter the Brussels Airport and detonate bombs. Cheffou's bomb did not go off, and he fled the scene. However, he was captured on 26 March and was charged with "terrorist murders" in the 2016 Brussels bombings.